Steve
:"You saw the injustice festering at the heart of our Empire. Force-sensitives exerting their dominance over the powerless, the citizens of the Empire. The people we were meant to protect, bullied into submission by their false champions." :—''Steve'' "Steve" was a Sith Lord who fought on numerous battlefronts of the war, earning the reputation of a callous and cunning warrior before an unfortunate head shot rendered him a docile, peace-loving man. He was the master of Darth Saber, one of the last of his kind, who played a key part in the final years of the Empire. Biography Early life Born on Dromund Kaas to a wealthy family of military doctors, Steve was the first in recent generations to have been born gifted with Force-sensitivity. While his roots strongly stayed throughout his life, he went on to become a Sith in the Academy on Korriban, excelling in numerous fields of lightsaber combat, as well as being hailed a young prodigy in Sith Alchemy. Instead of pursuing his talents further, the brash Lord Inventorus sought glory on the battlefield and followed the path of a Sith Warrior. His recklessness could only carry him so long, and ultimately, Inventorus suffered a fatal wound that stripped him of his vicious nature and deafened him to his rage. Cut off from his former self, Steve returned his gaze to his earlier pursuits and began a career as a scientific figure in Sith society. It was during this time that he met his most notable student, a wide-eyed acolyte present on one of his courses in Sith Ethics — Darth Saber. While Darth Saber managed to complete his trials in the Valley of the Dark Lords and ascend to the rank of Sith, the ways of master and apprentice parted for a short time. Holocron of Fate In no less than a year, Steve summoned his former pupil with the offer to make him a Sith Lord and complete their dream of an Empire liberated from oppression. Oblivious to his master's darker motives, Saber jumped at the opportunity and joined the research team of the Lord Doctor — but Steve had different plans than his apprentice believed. Steve was on the hunt for a powerful holocron that laid secure and hidden among the other relics of the Jedi on Coruscant. He believed that with its powers, he would be able to awaken the Force within non-Force sensitives and effectively reduce the social rift among the citizens of the Empire and equalize the populace. The Outlaw Heroes Having successfully taken hold of the holocron from a band of miscreants and outlaws, Steve introduced the new artifact to his apprentice and the rest of the research team. With Saber's studious focus and affinity to the light side, he was able to discern the holocron's nature and began making inquires with his master. After a heated confrontation of what the purpose of the holocron was, the newly-minted Sith Lord left on hostile terms, furthering Steve's descent into madness. Seeking to replace his lost pupil, Steve resuscitated the defiant smuggler who opposed his hunt for the Jedi holocron — the man known to the galaxy at large as John "Mynock" Konteego. However, like Darth Saber before him, Mynock was hesitant to join Steve's depraved goals and lashed out against his savior and captor as he escaped Steve's research lab on Ilum. The Dark Science Despite recent shortcomings, Steve pushed on. Using the holocron's powers with the scientific breakthroughs he had made, Steve made manifest an army of brainwashed Force mutants to serve as a stepping stone to his ultimate goal — that of an immaculate awakening of the Force. Flight of the Mynock However, Mynock and his gang were closing in. With the destruction of his operations on Tatooine, and the discovery of his space station above Hoth, Steve was running out of time and growing ever more desperate. As the armies of the Republic and the Empire closed in around him, alerted to his perverse schemes and the true powers of the holocron, Steve mustered up a final defense aboard the Peace Star as the weapon his apprentice helped him create was being prepared to fire upon an unsuspecting galaxy As the weapon's emitter became charged with the raw Force energies the holocron had gathered, Steve's victory was cut short with a decisive blast at the delicate Jedi relic, a deed done by Mynock's hand. Confronting a vulnerable and emotionally compromised Steve, Mynock and Kestrel forced his hand to release the energies through the emitter as it dispersed across the stars in a focused beam. Defeated and broken in mind and body, Steve snapped out of his madness and joined his former nemesis as the trio made their escape during the station's plummet to the planet's surface. A Fluke of Nature With his new compatriots hounded by an extremely lucrative bounty, and with him presumed dead, Steve took his new role among the presumably deceased in full stride as he made brief trips for supplies while Mynock and Kestrel remained secluded on the icy world of Hoth. During these interstellar commutes, Steve had come across what remained of his shattered army. He had gathered his fallen knights and gave them a new purpose. Those among them who forwent suicide during the interim, and accepted his proposal, became a selfless instrument of the light. Eventually, a young bounty hunter named William Hill, known in the underworld as The Fluke, found his way to Hoth by following the Sith Lord's trail. However, instead of capturing the fugitive outlaws, in a twist of chance the hunter had joined his prey. With Steve's new army of knights at their side, the four had besieged the palace of Grabba the Hutt, the Nar Shaddaa crime lord who held the bounty money of Mynock and Kestrel. After a narrow victory, the three outlaws claimed their prize and with it, put an irreparable dent in the bounty's drive. Steve and his knights, however, vanished as quickly as they appeared and all trace of them ceased to exist. The Fallen Knights :"I had a solution, and it was taken from me!" :—Steve During the next decade, it is safe to assume that Steve had continued to play a crucial role in Mynock and Kestrel's search for a holocron that bore a similar nature to that of the one who threatened the balance of the Force a couple of years back. A Game of Clones On Dantooine, Steve appeared to his apprentice as an illusion brought about by the kyber crystal cave's dormant Force energies. While it represented his master as Saber saw him, the confrontation reignited the Sith Lord's faith in the Empire, hoping to ultimately prove his master wrong. Legacy of the Force :"Don't we all deserve atonement if we've paid for our wrongs?" :—Darth Saber The legacy of Steve weighed heavily on the galaxy even a decade past the prime of his depravity, and a former Jedi Knight named Doop Skychafer saw a vision of a mournful Steve contemplating his many mistakes. Behind the Scenes :"Steve is what you get when you take good morals and push them to the extreme. He's the doctor who needs treatment, but has become too deluded to see it." :—''Alamact'' Steve was conceived to be the original comic's primary, overarching antagonist and a major figure in the second Act of the sequel. Trivia *His concept for the sequel by Lankist is Alamact's favorite redesign. *Steve's preferred lightsaber form of combat is Makashi. This is something he shares with his apprentice. *During his younger years, his armor resembled that of another Sith Lord from Legends continuity: Darth Malgus. *It is unclear why he prefers to carry a corrupted kyber crystal in his lightsaber, but it can be inferred that it a reminder of his bloodthirsty past. Appearances *''Men of Conviction'' *''Sweet Bucks of General Fux'' *''Big Iron On His Hip'' *''Beat Riders'' *''Master Bait''